The Stroke Center Earns Top Marks for its Quality of Care

The Stroke Center Earns Top Marks for its Quality of Care

The Stroke Center at MedStar Washington Hospital Center has received The American Heart Association / American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines® (GWTG) Stroke Gold Plus Performance Achievement Award. The award is in recognition of the Stroke Center’s commitment and success in providing quality care for stroke patients, according to evidence-based guidelines.

The GWTG program is the American Heart Association / American Stroke Association’s hospital-based quality improvement program, designed to ensure that hospitals consistently care for cardiac and stroke patients using the most up-to-date guidelines and recommendations. The program establishes certain criteria for how people suspected of having a stroke are diagnosed, treated and rehabilitated.

The Stroke Center earned the 2010 Gold Plus Award, the highest distinction awarded, for being at least 85 percent compliant with the GWTG measures for two or more consecutive 12-month periods, and achieved 75 percent or higher compliance with six of 10 GWTG-Stroke Quality Measures, which are reportable measures of the quality of care. These measures include having stroke neurologists available around the clock, aggressive use of medications, such as tPA, antithrombotics, anticoagulation therapy and cholesterol reducing drugs and referral to smoking cessation programs, all initiatives aimed at reducing death and disability, and improving the lives of stroke patients.

“We are very excited to receive this award,” said Amie Hsia, MD, medical director of Washington Hospital Center Stroke Center. “The award recognizes our commitment to deliver top quality care to our patients.”

For more information about stroke or for a referral to a stroke specialist at the Washington Hospital Center Stroke Center, call 202-877-DOCS (3627).